Three decades of local action towards urban sustainability: ICLEI at 30

On September 5, 1990, local government officials representing 200 cities from 43 nations gathered at the United Nations in New York. These mayors, council persons, and city staff from locales as distant from each other as the United States, Ivory Coast, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Finland and the Soviet Union, brought with them the resolve that, 

Continue Reading →

A blueprint to enhance United Nations collaboration with local and regional governments

The United Nations is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020, under the shadows of a once-in-a-century pandemic, serious challenges to multilateralism, and life-threatening climate and biodiversity emergencies. Due to the global pandemic, these celebrations will be taking place online, but the virtual forum by no means reduces the significance of processes and decisions that will 

Continue Reading →

Pittsburgh’s fight for clean air, water and growth

Pittsburgh has become the poster child for how to transition from highly impacted industrial town to a healthy and vibrant community. A city that has gone from having air quality and smog so bad that they had to leave the streetlights on 24 hours a day, to an area that has created more cleantech and 

Continue Reading →

Climate Resilience Webinar Series Highlights Opportunities for Recovery in South Asia

ICLEI South Asia and CDKN organised a series of webinars on climate resilience and its various aspects, including urban and peri-urban planning, gender, and green economic recovery in the context of COVID-19. The webinars were held every Thursday of August 2020. The objective of the session on Climate Resilience Planning and Action: Experiences from South 

Continue Reading →

Statement of Intent signed with NIUA on CapaCITIES-II project learnings

The consortium of implementing agencies for the CapaCITIES project have signed a Statement of Intent with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), aiming to create and disseminate knowledge products based on project learnings and outputs. The second phase (September 2019 to July 2023) of the CapaCITIES project is being implemented in India with support 

Continue Reading →

This World Environment Day, Amazonian cities remind us why preserving biodiversity is essential

By Rodrigo de Oliveira Perpetuo, Regional Director ICLEI South America Secretariat Read the original article in Portuguese. World Environment Day 2020 will be guided by the theme of biodiversity. Not by chance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) chose Colombia as the headquarters for World Environment Day activities. Considered one of the most environmentally diverse 

Continue Reading →

Local Governments Seek Participation in Nationally Determined Contributions

On the day that it was announced that COP26 will be postponed a full year because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, mayors, governors and national government representatives from around the world came together virtually to show how they are continuing to fight for climate action, even in the face of the global pandemic.  Twenty-five mayors 

Continue Reading →

World Environment Day 2020 – Photo Competition

Theme: Celebrating the Biodiversity of India Terms and Conditions 1. Each participant can submit only one entry. 2. Soft copies of the original photographs (minimum size of 2 MB, and maximum of 8 MB) need to be mailed to iclei-southasia@iclei.org. 3. Each photograph should be accompanied by a caption and a short description (50 words) 

Continue Reading →

Achieving road safety through Vision Zero

By Himanshu Raj, Sustainable Mobility Officer and Dana Vigran, Senior Communications Officer Road traffic injuries are the tenth leading cause of death globally, and the first cause of death for children and young adults between 5-29 years of age. Every 25 seconds, somewhere in the world, one person is killed on the road, accounting for 1.3 

Continue Reading →

Japanese cities take a circular approach to energy and decarbonization

Local and regional governments are not waiting for their national governments to take climate action. In Japan, local governments have been stepping forward to make ambitious commitments to zero carbon by 2050. For example, Tokyo has declared a “Climate Crisis Mobilization” as their commitment to respond to the climate emergency and through its Zero Emission 

Continue Reading →